Phoenix's Dichotomize have been sharpening their death metal sound since 2022, developing in the heat-blasted Arizona underground where the genre has quietly maintained a dedicated following. Their approach favors raw aggression and density, cutting against the grain of the state's more polished metal acts.

California's Dick Wolf have been navigating the space between raw black metal and post-black metal's more atmospheric impulses since 2012. Their sound resists easy categorization — bleak but textured, aggressive but willing to breathe, operating comfortably in the margins between the genre's orthodox and experimental wings.

Austin hardcore punk pioneers. Gary Floyd's politically charged vocals over furious punk.

Relentless Progressive Power / Thrash Metal from El Paso.

Austin all-female hardcore quartet. Signed to Third Man Records. Metal Hammer called them the best new band in the world.

Politically charged hardcore punk veterans from Houston.

Diecast is a metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1997. Part of the same fertile New England scene that produced Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, the band combined aggressive riffing with melodic vocal hooks across four studio albums, culminating in Tearing Down Your Blue Skies (2004) on Century Media Records and Internal Revolution (2006), which featured the single 'Fade Away.' Vocalist Colin Schleifer departed in 2003 and was replaced by Paul Stoddard for the band's Century Media era.

Fierce Heavy Metal from Denton.

Pittsburgh's DiGregorio bring a gothic heaviness to traditional metal, blending the two threads into something moody and atmospheric since their 2020 formation. The Steel City's industrial history haunts the band's sound — dramatic, heavy, and carrying the weight of a place that has never done anything halfway.